Organ-Ized: All-Star Tribute to the Hammond B3 Organ

A decade ago the Hammond B-3 organ had fallen from favor in the popular music arena, causing fear among afficiandos that the instrument itself would become obsolete, replaced by soulless synthesizers, once master organ players like Jimmy Smith and Booker T. Jones passed on. But then youngsters like Joey DeFrancesco, John Medeski, and Larry Goldings emerged, not only

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Overview

A decade ago the Hammond B-3 organ had fallen from favor in the popular music arena, causing fear among afficiandos that the instrument itself would become obsolete, replaced by soulless synthesizers, once master organ players like Jimmy Smith and Booker T. Jones passed on. But then youngsters like Joey DeFrancesco, John Medeski, and Larry Goldings emerged, not only able to pump the bass lines with their feet while improvising melody
with their fingers, but also capable of updating the sound of the B-3. All three of these relative newcomers contribute to ORGAN-IZED,
a compilation of great jazz, rock, and R&B organ players. "Ashley Blue" finds DeFrancesco swinging tough; DJ Logic joins Medeski for the space age
funk of "Swamp Road," and Goldings flies lightly through "Moonbird." Jimmy Smith's "There Will Never Be Another You," may be too tame, but this old-school master's command of the organ still marks him the king of the B-3. Another maestro, Brother Jack McDuff, also takes it easy with a lounge version of "Misty," while his peer, Reuben Wilson, whose soul jazz was rediscovered by the acid jazz crowd, does his fans proud with the funkified "Yes, Sir." The rock players present are best known as sidemen and session players. Ricky Peterson (Prince, David Sanborn, Bonnie Raitt) swirls into the contemporary jazz arena with
"Drop Shot." Tommy Eyre (Mick Jagger, Keb' 'Mo, George Michael) gets down with the blues on "I've Got to Find My Baby," and Mike Finnegan (Etta James, Santana, and currently touring with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) puts the organ through its paces with "Just a Little Bit." Rounding out the B-3 summit are New Orleans's finest R&B keyboardist, Art Neville; pop player, arranger, and producer Michael Omartian; and the Crescent City groove band Galactic. Put them all together and you get a party record that would make Laurens Hammond laugh out loud and send fans of the more staid church organ and skating rink music running for the hills.

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

High Street/Windham Hill's Organ-Ized is nothing less than a salute to the classic Hammond B3 organ by some of the preeminent mainstream practitioners of the instrument in the late '90s. Surprises are hardly the modus operandi here -- it's all soul-jazz, performed with love but not a lot of risk. While this might not showcase the idiosyncrasies of the instrument, that's fine, because this delivers exactly what most Hammond diehards want -- funky grooves and licks from the likes of Joey DeFrancesco, John Medeski, Art Neville, Michael Omartian, Jimmy Smith, Reuben Wilson, and Mike Weaver, among others. Some cuts cook more than others, but there are no duff tracks here -- only Jack McDuff. For organ-heads looking for a little more of what they love, this is not a bad sampler to sample.